avarna

English

Noun

avarna (plural avarnas)

1. (India) Someone outside the caste system, especially a Dalit or member of a tribal group.
   • 2005, P Radhakrishnan, Perfidies of Power, page 34:

     Many enlightened savarnas opened their private temples to the avarnas in the years that followed 1925.

   • 2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 16:

     In many parts of the country, Avarnas continue to be thought of as ‘downtrodden’, ‘unworthy’, ‘polluted’—‘untouchables’.